First, a confession. I am Igbo, whatever that means! I was born in 1966, a year before the Nigerian Civil War that lasted for 30 months, from July 1967 to January 1970.

The main theme of the first National Congress of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) since 2013 was democracy and “reawakening youth zeal for liberation.”

Recently, I watched in disbelief at the pictures of violent incidents at La Bawaleshie on the day of the Ayawaso West Wuogon (in Accra, Ghana) by-election. It was like shots from a conflict zone film in which law and order had broken down completely.

As I watched children going to school at the beginning of the term, I could not help but be troubled by how few they were – an indication that a huge number of them would not be attending, due to unaffordable school fees, uniforms and stationery – thus, a whole generation would be denied an educa

In rationalising his suspension of the Chief Justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court, President Muhammadu Buhari stated without explanation, “This is an existential policy”. What is the “this” referring to?

In this New Year 2019 we should take some time to restate some of the basic points on the current movement for Igbo independence from Nigeria.

This angle and this perspective, I believe, coincide with and describe the general position of the Nigerian Left. By “general position”, I mean an ideological – political position to which every tendency of the movement, which considers itself both Left and Nigerian ought to subscribe.

Most of the country’s economy ground to a halt.

Introduction

In a couple of weeks Nigeria will begin another round of general elections. This coming round of the four-yearly ritual, re-started by Nigeria’s ruling class in 1999 to herald the Fourth Republic, will be different in at least two respects from earlier ones.